The answer to the question as to whether the West Kingston enquiry, just started at the Jamaica Conference Centre, is a waste of time probably depends on your expectations. If you want to see someone pronounced guilty and sent to prison, then you may well find it a waste of time since the enquiry is not a criminal trial.

2 thoughts on “Is the West Kingston Enquiry a Waste of Time?”

Is the West Kingston Enquiry a Waste of Time?
No! The West Kingston Enquiry is not a waste of time. In any democratic society the people impacted by the actions of the state have a right to be heard. Jamaica has a regulation or law about the holding of enquiries in respect of events and situations, such as what happened in West Kingston.

Therefore, what took place needs to be clarified. The people who were directly affected must be heard; and, in addition to the official Report from the Enquiry, in this democratic society, others can draw their own conclusions.

There are many sides to the stories being told; and, hopefully, “truth will out.” However, let us not under estimate the fear and trauma experienced by the men, women and children of West Kingston, all of them citizens of Jamaica.

Excellent context setting. In a better world, the government would have done a good PR job to help manage expectations and explain what the enquiry could reasonably address. It’s clear, however, that even those within the process seem confused about what it may be expected to deliver.

I think there’s an unfortunate confusion arising from the prime role given to attorneys, and the somewhat inevitable drift toward trial tactics, even though these are not the ones that ought to prevail in teasing out information from witnesses. Does the enquiry really need to be adversarial, even though the interested parties need not be seen as having common positions? I think not.

The Chairman may need to steer proceedings very carefully to avoid their descending into a constant confrontation and battle of wills.